AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The name’s Jeremy. And you’re…?”
“Peter.”
“Cool. Nice to meet you.” His country accent hung in the air. I couldn’t quite place it. Definitely Southern, but not from Tennessee. Georgia, maybe? South Carolina? “Anyway, for future reference and your safety, you should know the bell means half-off drinks for the next ten minutes.”
I glanced over at the bar where people were shoving and pushing to get the bartender’s attention. “That seems—”
“Dangerous?” Jeremy shouted to be heard over the thump of the next song, something old by ABBA. “The drunker people get, the crazier they are to get to the bar, too. Someone’s gonna get trampled.”
“And that someone was almost me,” I yelled, attempting a joke.
He leaned in close. I smelled his aftershave even over the cigarette reek. It was warm and sweet but not too strong. “So, hey, whaddya say?” he asked. “While the dance floor is relatively clear, wanna hit it with me?”
My pulse kicked in sync with the beat. I wondered why a guy like Jeremy wanted to dance with a guy like me. Then I remembered. I was “pretty” now. Thanks to a growth spurt and some luck, I’d turned out attractive enough that Adam wasn’t the only guy who’d want me.
Still, I’d just arrived, and something about the shine in Jeremy’s eyes made me nervous.
“Um, I’m meeting a friend.” I jerked my chin toward the second floor where Barry and Renée would be expecting me.
Jeremy’s smile faltered. “You sure? Maybe I could grab us a drink instead?”
I ran my hand over my upper lip to wipe away the sweat already collecting there. My gaze dropped to his mouth again, and then farther down. He had a tuft of dark hair sticking out of the top of his tight red V-neck shirt. Between his handsome face and his dark denim jeans, he really looked like he’d stepped out ofPeoplemagazine. A drink with him couldn’t hurt. But then again, I was here to look for friends, not another hopeless crush.
At the thought of Daniel, I remembered he was supposed to be here tonight. Electric hope shot up my spine. “Sorry. I can’t. I need to find my friend. He’ll be—I mean, she’ll be looking for me.”
“You’re not sure if your friend’s a he or a she?” Jeremy asked, grinning. His blue eyes crinkled attractively at the edges.
I laughed. “It’s confusing sometimes.”
Jeremy winked. “Believe me, I get it.”
“Yeah, so I should—” I gestured vaguely toward the staircase again. “Go find her.”
“Or him.”
“Right. But maybe we can have that drink later? After I’ve touched base with my friend?”
“I look forward to it, Peter.” Jeremy’s smile was so pretty it made my insides flail. “Later then.”
I collected my wits and started upstairs again. A smile grew on my face as I made my way through the club. Running into Jeremy—literally—had been unexpectedly rewarding despite my wet, beer-soaked shirt. There was nothing new to finding a guy hot, but knowing for sure that he was gay too? Thatwasnew. And that he wanted to flirt withme? Wow.
My blood raced as I slithered around and between bodies, making it halfway up the stairs. The track transitioned to a club mix of “Ice Ice Baby,” and I paused to look out over the dance floor.
Near the middle, I recognized Daniel’s blond friend, Minty, the one who’d been wearing a dress while high out of his mind the night my car stalled at the university. I paused to see if Daniel was with him, but he wasn’t around. Minty danced between two strong guys in black muscle tees. He was dwarfed by them both. I grinned at the sight of his short, white-blond hair bobbing between the two taller men’s chests.
Wearing a tight sleeveless undershirt and a purple tutu over what appeared to be a pair of white briefs, Minty wrapped his arms around one guy’s neck and kissed him. The man behind Minty slid his hands down his back and into his briefs, squeezing and rubbing as they moved together. Under smears of purple eye shadow and above pink, shiny lip-gloss, Minty’s eyes were hooded with lust as the music thumped on.
A snake of envy unwound in my gut as I stared, frozen on the busy stairway. People pushed past me, but I couldn’t stop watching, sweat pooling in the small of my back, my dick going half-hard in seconds at their groping. The club was too hot, humid with breath and bodies, but I shivered. Licking my upper lip, I tasted sweat.
As Minty kissed the taller man, their bodies became so intertwined it looked like they were all three screwing on the dance floor. I stared. What would it be like to be in the middle of a man-sandwich like that? Was Minty brave or stupid? Reckless or hot?
With my dick pushing against my pants, I forced myself to turn away, trudging up the stairs.
The stage was dressed up with a new black curtain, but nothing, not even the darkness of the room, could conceal the club’s run-down roughness. Hanging from the ceiling by the dressing-room door, an air conditioner rattled and roared, loud enough to rival the music rising from below. I adjusted my dick inconspicuously and took a few deep, calming breaths before stepping deeper into the room.
It wasn’t hard to find Renée. She stood a good foot higher than everyone else in her heels. She also shone like a blazing, blue vixen in the mermaid dress I’d worked so hard on in the months before Adam left. The wig she’d chosen for the night was white, blue, and green swirled into an up-do, and her earrings dangled far from her ears in glittering chains of green and blue fish.
“Hey, beautiful,” I said, as she pulled me into a perfumed embrace.
